I’m back! It’s been an amazingly long and enjoyable holiday,
full of adventures and fun-filled family time! Check facebook for a few other pictures,
otherwise, here are a few highlights from our trip:
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| The girls with our tour van: Lords Travel |
Johannesburg: Met up with the family in the airport. As I
was waiting in line at the passport check-point I hear ‘There she is… Ellen!!’
and look over and see mom and Laura smiling at me from the other side. What a
warm welcome! I was thankful we didn’t have too much trouble finding each other
in the airport. After that we took a taxi to our hotel, which we discovered is
next to a big shopping mall – score! Found Woolworths and bought food and water
for our few days there. Went to the Apartheid museum (very interesting and
informational, but we all got a bit overloaded by the end and stuck to looking
at pictures), drove through Soweto and Johannesburg, and got a tour of Pretoria
over the next couple days, then we were ready to head on to our next leg of the
trip!
Cape Town: Arrived in the afternoon ready to go! Got our
rental car (only a few kinks with me driving the manual... I got used to it
eventually!) and headed to our apartment where we would be staying. Dinner at
Cape Town Fish Market – delicious meal with great view of the sunset! Checked
out all the kite surfers on the beach – pretty amazing to watch! Hiked Table
Mountain (perhaps I will post that saga separately), great hike and view from
up there. Toured Robben Island, very neat after having gone to the Apartheid
museum and learning about Nelson Mandela. Went to Cape Point with a picnic
lunch, saw the light houses there, penguins on the way. Experienced the harbor
and market downtown (with the huge Lego-Man). Picnic lunch at Kirstenbosch
Botanical Gardens, church bazaar right across the street, fun, windy roads around the cape to see all
the suburbs (very pretty – would stay there next time!). McDonalds internet
runs at night and laundry at the local Laundromat. Cheetah Outreach where we
got to have an ‘encounter’ with two cheetah cubs (Thanks Yogi!!). Maria, who I
work with at CARACAL, worked there for a couple years before coming to Kasane.
Definitely a highlight for me, as you do not see them in the wild much anymore,
and barely any in Chobe. Then to a nearby beach for ocean time (should be
considered the Indian Ocean!), dinner and, of course, ice cream. What trip to
the beach isn’t complete without an ice cream cone?
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| Laura and I in our mokoro (I barely made it into this pic!) |
Maun: Air Botswana flight on a slightly classier plane than
usual, still had enough room for everyone to have their own row of seats… picked up at airport and taken to Audi Camp,
where we checked in to our ‘bedded tents’ They were quite nice little ‘hotel
rooms’ just with a campground bathroom (which was totally awesome with outdoor
showers and tons of dung beetles and termites at night). Next morning we headed
out early on a game drive truck two hours to the point where we went into the
Okavango Delta on mokoros (small dug-out canoes traditionally used by the local
people). Very cool experience! Set up camp then went swimming at a spot where
the water is clear enough so it is fairly safe from crocs and hippos. Bush walk
started but turned back because of thunderstorm and walking through wide open
fields. Dinner cooked for us over the fire, then early to bed! Up early to go
on another bush walk where we saw lots of animals! Giraffes, warthogs, buffalo
(a little too close for comfort for me), tsessebee, hippos, I’m sure there’s
more I’m forgetting. Lunch then back in the mokoros and safari truck to camp.
One more night then headed out early the next morning from the airport in a
rental car to get us from Maun up to Kasane.
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| Yay, got mom to hold the python!! |
Kasane: Drove on tar road from Maun to Gweta, stopped to see
Planet Baobab and eat some lunch, then on through Nata (fairly non-existent
from what we could see…) and on up North! Minor delays with rain and road work,
but fam was happy to see elephants along the way. Arrived in Kazungula with
enough time to unload the car before heading to town for Carols by Candlelight.
Dinner at Hot Bread Shop (meat pies) then the Christmas Eve-type service in
Kasane. Got to see and hear some of the children I’ve worked with at the
Catholic mission playing marimbas, then all the townies sing carols and read
scripture. Saturday took the rental car back and switched over to the Surf,
which Kathy and Mark let us borrow from work. Showed them around the center and
everyone got to hold the python! Church and tea, cookie-baking (salty sugar n’
spice!), drinks at Senyati bar and getting the car stuck in Lesuma Valley!
Luckily a friend was able to come rescue us. Christmas Eve dinner at the
William’s, Christmas in the park, saw a lion among the other ‘usuals’. Picked
up Chip! Back into the park for our fun elephant encounter and sunset, dinner
at Old House.
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| Chip and I rockin out in our extremely attractive traditional garb.... |
Victoria Falls: Got the public transportation experience –
waited on the curb for a kombi that took us to the border, then hitched a ride
with a company from the border to Vic Falls. Went to the park where you can
walk along the opposite side of the falls through the misty forest with tons of
photo ops. Amazing waterfall!! Similar and different to Niagra in that its
longer and skinnier, but I think taller. High tea at Victoria Falls Hotel with
a beautiful view of the bridge/falls. Dinner at the Boma, a cultural experience
with traditional food and drumming. Stayed at the hostel-like Tokkie Lodge,
decent accommodation for an amazing price. In the morning, Chip, Laura and I
did the gorge swing! It s a 160 meter swing with an 80m free fall if I remember
correctly. Very very cool!!! Didn’t give me nearly the adrenaline rush I was
expecting, but was breathtaking all the same. After that taxi back to the
border and realizing I left my camera in the tour company vehicle…. Luckily
they have it and I should be able to get it back!
Savanna Lodge (no pix yet): Packed up everything and made
our way to immigration where we were picked up by boat to go to Savanna Lodge,
the place where I participated in the advertisement. The only way to access it
is by boat because it is across the river in Namibia. Checked out of Bots and
into Namibia (more passport stamps!) then on to the lodge. Greeted with hot
towels and the staff singing us a welcome song (made mom cry…). Settled in,
went for a swim, ate lunch, had a ‘siesta’, then afternoon tea and boat cruise
safari. Don’t get to see too much from the river, but still saw a decent amount
of animals and tons of birds. Dinner was amazing (and fancy – we all had to
brush up on our etiquette), then early to bed and early to rise for a birding
cruise. Same routine…. Relax, eat, boat cruise, eat…. Pretty much the life! It
was a great way to end our somewhat rustic trip! Sunday morning we headed back
across the river, did a little shopping then ate lunch at Pizza Plus so the fam
could meet A.K. the owner. After a short stop at the center to grab the last of
their bags, we headed to the airport to see my family off. The most people I’ve
ever seen in Kasane airport… Said
goodbye and they disappeared through security, leaving Chip and I to go home to
my now sadly empty house : (
Well, that is just a rough sketch of the trip, sorry I
couldn’t be more detailed, but I know mom and laura kept great journals about
every day of our trip! Such fun and wonderful memories, thanks for coming
family!!
